Garment fastening eye



Aug. 28, 1962 M. COHN 3,050,806

GARMENT FASTENING EYE Filed Oct. 7, 1960 INVENTOR. MflUR/CA? COH/V ATTORNEYS 3,059,396 GARMENT FASTENING EYE Maurice Cohn, South St, South Coventry, Conn. Filed Oct. 7, 1960, Ser. No. 61,125 2 Claims. (Cl. 24-226) This invention relates to a garment fastening hook and eye device and, more particularly, to an improved eye of the type that is usually stitched to the garment fabric.

Garment fastening eyes of the type which are stitched to the garment are generally made as a sheet metal stamping of rectangular configuration having an elongated central opening. An eye of this type is secured to the garment fabric by stitching over one of the longitudinal bars adjacent the central opening. When such an eye is tightly stitched to a relatively stifif fabric, some difficulty is en countered in engaging or connecting the hook because the eye tends to lie fiat against the fabric.

It is the general object of the present invention to provide a garment fastening eye of the aforesaid type which is particularly adapted to facilitate connection with an associated hook.

The drawing shows preferred embodiments of the invention and such embodiments will be described, but it will be understood that various changes may be made from the constructions disclosed, and that the drawing and description are not to be construed as defining or limiting the scope of the invention, the claims forming a part of this specification being relied upon for that purpose.

Of the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a greatly enlarged plan view of a garment fastening eye constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the said eye showing it stitched to a fabric;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing a hook connected with the eye; and

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1 of an alternative construction in accordance with the present invention.

As is well known, garment fastening hook and eye devices are widely used to close and secure the waistbands of mens trousers and womens skirts and other garments. Most hooks and eyes are secured to the fabrics by being clinched therein. That is, the hook is generally provided with a base having clinching prongs extending at a right angle from the plane of the base so that they can be extended through the fabric and through suitable apertures in a backing plate on the opposite side of the fabric and then bent or clinched over the backing plate to secure the hook in place. Similarly, the eyes are usually provided in C-shape, the ends of the eye members providing the prongs which are extended through the fabric and clinched over a companion backing plate. The backing plates of the hooks and eyes are then covered by another layer of fabric, and this makes it difiicult to unclinch the securing prongs of the hooks and eyes to remove such members from the fabric. It is often desirable to remove and relocate either a hook or an eye on a garment after its initial fabrication to better fit the garment of the wearer.

In order to provide easy adjustability for relocation of the fastening devices, it has become a practice in providing the hook and eye devices for some garments to provide an eye which is capable of being stitched to the garment and which does not use prongs and an associated backing plate. Such garment fastening eyes are generally provided in the form of rectangular or D-shaped sheet metal stampings having a central opening through which the associated hook is extended in effecting connection. As previously mentioned, such eyes lie flat on or against the fabric, and difiiculty is often encountered in thrusting the hook through the eye opening to effect connection.

3,05%,806 Patented Aug. 28, 1962 As will be observed in FIG. 1, the garment fastening eye provided in accordance with the present invention is still generally rectangular or D-shaped. The body of the eye 10 is preferably formed as a sheet metal stamping having a generally rectangular longitudinally extending opening 12 which is preferably centrally located in the body of the eye. This opening is provided in suflicient longitudinal extent to receive a companion hook, and by providing the opening a pair of longitudinal bars 14 and 16 are defined in the sheet metal body 10.

One of these bars, for example the bar 14, may be referred to as an engaging bar over which the companion hook is passed as it is extended through the opening 12. The other of these bars, for example the bar 16, is the anchoring bar over which threads are extended in securing the eye member to a garment fabric or the like.

As thus far described, the eye member 10 may be considered to be conventional. However, in the conventional stitched eye, the hook-receiving opening is considerably wider than the opening 12 and the engaging and anchoring bars 14 and 16 are substantially more narrow. In

accordance with the present invention, more metal stock is left on the eye member 1h, but in the stamping process, the anchoring bar 16 is struck transversely in cuts 13, 18 extending from the central opening 12 at the ends thereof toward but nonetheless spaced from the outside longitudinal ego of the said anchoring bar. By being so formed, the anchoring bar 16 is provided with a tongue 2%.

In further accord with the present invention, the said tongue 2% is bent along a longtiudinal bend line 22 and projected downwardly from the plane of the eye member or body 19. This bending of the tongue 20 enlarges the effective opening which receives the hook, and by bending the tongue downwardly when the eye member is laid on fabric as illustrated in FIG. 2, the body portion of the eye and its opening 12 will project away from the fabric. This provides greater accessibility of the eye for connection with the hook and it facilitates entry of the hook into the eye opening.

A less apparent advantage in providing the bent tongue 29 is that the eye can be more firmly secured by stitching'to the garment fabric. That is, the bent tongue 20 increases the overall width of the anchoring bar 16 over which the threads T are passed in securing the eye to the fabric. The wider dimension of the anchoring bar and the bend or hump therein along the bend line 22 tend to prevent longitudinal movement of the eye member within the looped threads.

Hook and eye connection is further facilitated in accordance with the present invention by bending the engaging bar 14 downwardly as shown in FIG. 2 along a longitudinal bend line 24 which is coincident with the adjacent edge of the opening 12. This permits the engaging bar 14 to be relatively wide without blocking movement of the hook into the eye opening, and the downwardly bent engagaing bar 14 frictionally engages both inner surfaces '26 and 28 of an associated hook H as shown in FIG. 3 to make the hook and eye connection more firm and to diminish the possibility of inadvertent disengagement.

if desired, the eye of this invention can be provided in the alternative form shown in FIG. 4. The said alternative form differs from that described only in the provision of one or more thread notches 30, 30 over which the stitches can be passed to provide even greater assurance that the eye will not shift or move longitudinally within the thread loops. As shown, the thread notches 36, 30 are preferably located on the tongue 20 of the anchoring bar in the edge adjacent the hook receiving opening 12. However, the said notches can be 3 provided in the outside longitudinal edge of the anchoring bar.

The invention claimed is: a 1. An improved eye for association with a hook in a hook and eye garment fastening device, the said eye comprising a generally rectangular sheet member having a generally rectangular centrally located longitudinally extending opening to receive the hook and which defines a pair of longitudinal bars on opposite sides of the said opening, one being an engaging bar which is bent downwardly along a longitudinal bend line coincident with the adjacent longitudinal edge of the said central opening and over which the hook is passed through the opening to efiect fastening engagement, and the other being an anchoring bar over which threads are extended" in stitching the eye in place on the garment fabric, a substantial portion of the said anchoring bar being struck transversely in cuts extending from the said opening and being bent downwardly along a longitudinal bend line from the plane of the eye member to define a tongue engageable with the fabric to project the engaging bar and eye opening away from the fabric for easy engagement and disengagement of the hook.

2. An improved eye for association with a hook in a hook and eye garment fastening device, the said eye comprising a generally rectangular sheet member having a generally rectangular centrally located opening extending longitudinally therein to receive the hook and which defines a pair of longitudinal bars on opposite sides or" the said opening, one being an engaging bar which is bent downwardly along a bend line coincident with the adjacent longitudinal edge of the central open-. ing and over which the hook is passed through the opening to effect fastening engagement, and the other being an anchoring bar over which threads are extended in stitching the eye in place on the garment fabric, a substantial portion of the said anchoring bar being struck transversely in cuts extending from the ends of the said opening and being bent along a longitudinal bend' line from the plane of the eye member to define a tongue engageable with the fabric to project the engaging bar and eye opening away from the fabric for easy engagement and disengagement of the hook, and the said anchoring bar being provided with at least one notch in. I

one of its longitudinal edges to receive looped thread when the eye is stitched to thefabric.

Smith Apr. 5, 1910 

